


The one with the cough

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Baby Zayn, Child Niall, Fluff, Hospitals, Illness, Kidfic, Niall-centric, Sick Niall, i put up too many kidfics, lilo, slight Narry bond, teen harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 23:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5224919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So sure, the boys had had rubbish lives previously, but Liam and Louis were just happy that none of the children-their babies-had been abused and were now in safe, loving arms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The one with the cough

"You'll never catch me!" Three year old Niall taunted, running away from his older brother Harry. The sixteen year shook his head fondly before slowly running after his younger brother. Harry always tried his hardest to play with Niall, even if he did have a lot of homework to do, as he knew that his fathers were quite busy with the young, six-month old Zayn, who was the newest addition to the small family. Liam and Louis would still always be there for the older pair but Harry knew that it had to be hard for his parents. All three boys were adopted by Liam and Louis, all of the with different backgrounds. 

Harry had been adopted at the age of 11 when his sister and guardian Gemma had fallen ill. It wasn't fatal but Harry had been taken in to foster care for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, Gemma had caught an awful bad strain of the flu and that paired with the previous illness had caused her to pass away. When Liam and Louis heard about this, they decided to apply to adopt their young foster child. Harry was a delightful child, always helpful around the house and was a sweet child, so it really wasn't a hard decision.

Niall had been an emergency foster placement three years later after his mother had been found passed out on the couch by a neighbour, alcohol and drugs surrounding her as one year old Niall cried in his small cot. Liam and Louis' hearts were immediately stolen by the blonde cherub of a child with his startling blue eyes and rosy, plump cheeks.

Lastly, Zayn had joined the family four months ago after being found in a wooden crate in a car park. It was assumed that his parents has abandoned him, but nothing was certain. Zayn was a beautiful baby, and Harry was certain that he would grow up to be a complete heartbreaker. So sure, the boys had had rubbish lives previously, but Liam and Louis were just happy that none of the children-their babies-had been abused and were now in safe, loving arms. 

"Hazza.." Niall moaned, laying out flat on the bed after Harry had caught the young boy and tickled him mercilessly. Harry turned on his side and looked at the blonde, who's blonde hair was matted slightly to his forehead and his cheeks flushed. He had a runny nose, and his voice did seem somewhat hoarse to Harry when he was playing with Niall. 

"Are you feeling alright Ni?" Harry inquired softly, pushing the blonde hair gently off of Niall's sweaty forehead. Niall just shook his head and buried it in Harry's arm, the soft jacket making an excellent pillow. 

"Come on little man." Harry said, lifting Niall up swiftly onto his hip. "Let's go tell Papa and Dad yea?" Harry bounced Niall gently as the walked down the stairs, mindful not to drop the fragile child who was nearly falling asleep with his head on Harry's shoulder and one small hand clutching his soft jacket like a comfort item. He quickly walked into the sitting room to find his papa, Louis, trying to please a clearly unamused Zayn while his dad, Liam, was typing rapidly on his laptop. Harry decided to approach Louis first, seeing how Zayn technically wasn't crying yet and Liam was obviously stressing out over something, most likely his students midterm papers. 

Liam was a secondary school teacher while Louis was a stay-at-home-dad-slash-writer, so any work he did was from the comfort of his own kitchen where he typed all of his stories on an old, withered typewriter he had found at a charity shop. (Liam had told Louis that writing on a typewriter was highly unconventional, not to mention unreliable, but Louis had just shrugged him off, saying that it got his creative juices flowing through him like a smoothie.)

"Papa?" Harry said , sitting down beside his father, strategically placing Niall on his lap. Louis looked over at the pair, and upon seeing the paleness and unnatural sweatiness of his middle son, he quickly leaned over and placed his hand on his temple. 

"Are you feeling okay baby?" Louis asked, lifting his young son up. Once again, Niall just shook his head, this time whining softly for any sort of affection. Harry started rubbing his thumb in small circles on the back of Niall's soft hand to reassure the boy that he was there. Louis got out of his seat, placing Niall on the citrus yellow couch (don't ask) and going into the kitchen. 

A minute later he was back with a thermometer in tow, and quickly eased it between the small boys chapped, pink lips. He left it there for two minutes while he put Zayn into his walker before taking it out again.

"37.8" Louis said out loud, thinking to himself. "Probably just a cold he picked up in the park or something. There's nothing we can do except get some cough medicine into him and hope it works quickly enough for the poor chap."

Harry nodded and quickly went over to Liam to relay the information. The brown haired man looked over at his ball of sunshine, and on upon seeing a small smile flicker over the young boys face as Louis messed with him, he knew that his child would be okay. That it was a cold, it happened to nearly every child even yearly, and that sickness was just a normal part of parenting. Not an easy part by any means, but an average part no less.  
_____________________________________  
It was three weeks later when it all come loose. Louis was taking care of the youngest two while Liam went to work and Harry to school. Niall would usually go to daycare during the week as Liam and Louis liked to have him interacting with other children of his age, but Niall's nasty cough still wouldn't shake. His congestion and fever had left after a week, but he was still having awful fits that tended to flare his asthma slightly. Louis and Liam contemplated taking him to the doctor, but after discussing it, they decided to wait another week. 

Zayn was sleeping soundly upstairs, cuddling a small stuffie called Jerry, a small giraffe that had been the first thing that Zayn had clutched onto when he was placed into his bedroom. 

Louis walked over to Niall, who was snoozing quietly on the couch, his tufts of blonde hair propped up on a small yellow pillow. He was sort of wheezing, and his eyebrows were creased in pain. He started coughing harshly, which consequently made Niall jerk away. Louis quickly made his way over to his child, who continued coughing for about thirty seconds, before making a big gasping sound, obviously fighting to get air. Louis patted his back, but Niall just started having another coughing fit. 

Louis looked worriedly at his middle child, as he gasped unnaturally again. The sound didn't sound like anything Louis had ever heard before. It was like it wasn't even human, like a bird gasping for air. Niall's usually pink lips were tinged blue, and his body shuddered with effort. Louis quickly decided to call Liam and tell him he was bringing Ni to their local doctor. 

"Li?" Louis said as he heard his husband picking up the phone. "I have to bring Niall to Dr. Warrens."

"What? Why?" Liam asked, fear evident in his quavering voice.

"He can't breathe Li! He's making these hideous gasping noises a-and he just isn't strong enough!"

"Okay, okay Lou. Calm down and bring him to doctor. You can drop Zayn off at work, the secretary Rhonda will take  care of him for an hour or so until I finish up these classes. Then I'll take Harry out and we'll met you there okay?"

Louis agreed and hung up the phone. He woke up his baby Zayn, softly bouncing him up and down until the young child was alert enough, before  carrying him down the stairs. He called Niall over, the blonde unsteady on his feet, before picking him up on his other hip. He walked out to car and placed his children in their car-seats before hoping into the front seat himself and starting to drive. 

Firstly, Louis dropped Zayn off at the school office with Rhonda. The secretary was a short, bubbly character with a heart of gold. Louis had met her on several occasions while picking Harry up from school some days. He passed Zayn over to her before bringing Niall back out into the car and driving off again. 

Finally, they reached the same doctors office on the end of the small country road. It was the sort of place that you would imagine a bunch of thatched houses everywhere. Louis took Niall out and carried him inside of the office.

"Hi Samantha," Louis said to the receptionist. "Niall has an appointment scheduled for now."

"Hi Mr.Tomlinpayne." She said, smiling while tickling under Niall's thin, but she got no reaction from the blonde. "Someone's not a happy baby. You can go straight in, second door on the left." Louis thanked her, before bringing Niall into the surgery. 

"Hello Dr. Warren." Louis said, voice shaking slightly. He shook hands with Carl Warren, who greeted Louis kindly.

"And this must be Niall! I hardly recognised you, you've grown so much." Dr. Warren said warmly. The usually optimistic and friendly Niall just buried his head in his fathers shoulder, still shaking slightly from the effort of having to fight for every breath. 

"So what are the symptoms?" The doctor asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, he had an awful cold for about a week and a half, but his coughing has stayed. He has been having coughing fits for about half a minute, and then he finds it extremely hard to breathe. He also has coughed up quite a bit of mucus over the last couple of days. His asthma has been flaring up more violently too. He's been exhausted and he never wants to play either, which is something he's always enthusiastic to do. He's got me and Liam so worried." 

"Okay...." Dr. Warren said, taking some notes down on a pad. "I'm just going to do a couple of tests. I'm going to listen to his cough first and then I might take a couple of swabs. Is that okay?"

"That's fine." Louis said, sitting Niall down on the crinkle paper that covered the bed. Niall coughed wetly, and Dr. Warren quickly put the cold stethoscope on Niall's chest and listened. He then took out a cotton swab and swabbed his nose.

"I'm doing this to test for pertussis bacteria. That's a pretty technical way of saying whooping cough." Dr. Warren told Louis when he asked what this was for.

"I'm pretty sure he has whooping cough though, so we can give him some antibiotics now. Have you seen any symptoms with anyone else in your family?" Louis shook his head, extremely thankful for that fact. 

"You should all be okay then," He informed the pair. "His cough should be gone in about two weeks, might be a little longer, just be sure to keep an eye out for a high fever, but Niall should be fine." Louis thanked the doctor and took the antibiotics, ringing his husband and telling him that their was no reason for him to take time off of work. Liam argued, saying that they could have a nice family night. Louis agreed, and when everyone got home, they had a nice night, snuggling up and watching 'Finding Nemo' with little Niall sitting right in the middle of his siblings.


End file.
